The Bhutanese Leading the way.
With no new community transmission of COVID-19 in the country, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital (JDWNRH) will be revisiting the COVID-19 protocol, especially the delivery of food for the patients’ attendants in the wards.
When the first national lockdown was announced on 13 August, one of the safety measures, which the hospital put in place, was to stop any food or other items entering the hospital building by the patients or their attendants, so as to minimize the risk of the virus entering the hospital.
The hospital provided all meals for both the patients and their attendants. An average of 1,000 people were served, whereas, earlier only 300 to 350 patients had to be served with meals.
Officiating Medical Superintendent, Dr Pem Chuki, said JDWNRH will facilitate the drop in and drop out of attendant’s food, and at the same time, it will minimize the overcrowding in the in-patient department. She said the one patient to one attendant ratio is to remain the same. However, in the ICU and Pediatrics wards, the hospital allows two attendants, and in some other cases too.
Currently, the hospital is providing food for both the patient and attendant, and maximum complaints received were from the attendants and not from the patients regarding food. The food provided for patients and their attendants are different.
The budget allocated is only for patients, and not for the attendants, but because of the COVID-19, the hospital has been dividing that allocated food budget, which would have compromised the quality of food.
JDWNRH is developing a protocol, which will allow patient’s attendant to have food as per his or her preference, but at the same time, keeping in mind that COVID-19 has not gone, said Dr Pem Chuki.
The COVID-19 testing is still mandatory. All the patients from the high-risk zones are tested with RT-PCR, and low-risk zones patients take the Antigen test. As for the emergency cases that are referred to JDWNRH from even red zones, the Genexpert, with a turnaround time report of 90 minutes, is used so that the patients can get tested quickly.
As soon as the report comes out, the patients requiring emergency surgery or other procedures are given immediate medical care.
Dr Pem Chuki also pointed out that the crowd in the hospital has remained the same, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The morning hours see an over crowding in the Out-Patient Department (OPD), which lessens towards the lunch hour. And the patient turn up for the appointment system is very low. The hospital is trying to maintain the physical distancing, as per the requirement, and also body temperature testing, and other COVID-19 protocols are still being followed.
